One of the great
things about the high end is that it often makes no sense. There is a built-in
contradiction, after all, in this crazy notion of reproducing live people playing
real instruments in your living room via glue, domes, wires, cabinetry, and
etched circuit boards. It's no wonder that many audiophiles find themselves
unwittingly cast in the role of Dr. Frankenstein, as they attempt to coax this
recalcitrant assemblage of cold, hard parts into vibrant musical life. But as
the kibitzer mathematician in Jurassic Park liked to acidly note, the minute
you try to bring something to life, a complex system which nature never intended
to be, chaos theory holds that sooner or later you will get a big, and usually
nasty, surprise. In the high end scheme of things, this means you often end
up with some bank account devouring gear that makes T Rex look like a vegetarian.
However, chaos theory can cut both ways. The story doesn't always have to end
with an expensive monster component running amok in your home.

Case in point,
the diminutive, 80 watt per channel, Audio Source AMP Two amplifier. Were it
not for Francis coming across it in his PC multimedia speaker review this innocuous
looking $499 device ($299, street price) might have stayed hidden away in the
high end's Jurassic undergrowth. The predecessor to the AMP Two, the AMP One
(no surprise there), was known for its solid craftsmanship, and no fuss, bullet-proof
operation. AudioSource does have a rather surprising policy towards its customers,
though-- it goes out of its way to make it easy to deal with. For example, the
two year warranty on all its electronics (five years on speakers) is readily
transferable. The company also offers a toll free, 800 number into a dedicated
support line should you happen to find yourself experiencing some problems.
Bear in mind, we are talking about audio gear that only costs a few hundred
bucks. How many kilobuck components have you seen lately with easily transferable
warranties, and dedicated, toll free support lines?

And now for the
biggest surprise of all: The small, low ball, AMP Two is a giant killer! This
sweet thing is highly musical, and vamps about not at all like a cheap little
transistor job. Talk about chaos working for you for a change! This theory of
systems complexity also held true in another key regard: How this particular
review came to be was totally unexpected.

As you may recall
from that PC multimedia review, Francis and Gordana
were using the AMP Two to drive the LFT-11's, Eminent Technologies' terrific
midget planars. That dynamic duo was one happy component collaboration. But
to try using the beer budget AMP Two for driving a true high end system, like
the $6,000 Impulse Ta'us loudspeakers? Nah. It just didn't make any sense
to Francis , especially as his performance expectation levels were still reeling
from a totally awesome audio experience. The Ta'us speakers had just got through
being fatly fed by the Mama Mia! Graaf 200 watt OTL tube amplifier and 13.5b tube line stage.
(The joint price tag of these two Italian exotics comes out to $18,000, $17,700
more than the AMP Two.) The Ta'us are completely candid speakers which rival
even the Quads for sonic transparency. All in all, he figured that pairing the
ruthless Ta'us with the AMP Two would be like putting Hannibal Lecter together
with an unsuspecting prison guard: The AMP Two would be lunch, perhaps with
a nice Chianti.

But then--and
this is what happens when you are married to a psychiatrist--Francis had a dream
(for real!) in which it occurred to him he really should try using the price-tag
challenged AMP Two with the all-devouring Ta'us. Gordana already knew her husband
was completely audio-crazy, and his wacko dream only served to confirm her suspicions.
But Francis was never one to heed such professional advice, so into the system
went the AMP Two. Moreover, it was going out into the high end world naked and
alone, driven straight off the CD player. No potentially reality shielding preamp
was going to be used.

First, the
amp was carefully sited on top of three of "Those Things" vibration isolation
doodads from Black Diamond Racing. Next, the top of the Nordost
line SPM cables and interconnects were hooked up. And finally, the unit's power
cord was plugged in, and the unit switched on. The AMP Two's two little glowing
power meters abruptly lit up like a startled child's eyes. Francis then popped
a disc into the $3,000 Meridian 508.20 CD player, and nervously waited for the
audible cannibalism that was sure to come.

Mirabile
dictu! The Ta'us just licked their chops, and got down to feasting on some
seriously
good jazz. Zoot Sim's luscious tenor Sax was rendered round, fat, and full
by the AMP Two. Even more miraculous, Kenny Drew's piano sounded like a real
piano,
and not some cheap transistorized toy. Pedersen's bass playing also came through
in all its properly plucked, jelly jammin' glory. [Mobile Fidelity, "Zoot Sims
in Copenhagen," and the Kenny Drew Trio, UDCD 694]. Francis anxiously looked
down at the AMP Two, all the while wondering, How could this be? He suddenly
had chilling cause to give some credence to his wife's lunatic opinion of him.
Well, there was nothing left for it, except for Francis , with great foreboding,
to call in Dr. Gordana, and ask her what she heard.

There is a unique
kind of look that comes over people's faces at certain special moments. Like
when a UFO finally lands on the White House Lawn, or you find out the truth
about who really shot JFK. It's the look of this can't-be-true-but-ohmigod-there-it-is-staring-me-right-in-the-face.
Gordana's jaw dropped, and Francis 's spirits rose. He wouldn't have to go on
Prozac after all. The AMP Two was really, truly, making wonderful music, successfully
seducing the critically aloof Ta'us into a loving partner.

But hey,
let's not get too carried away. Maybe the AMP Two's incredibly competent
playing of
this excellent MoFi recording was a fluke. So, on went "Pomp and Pipes, Powerful
Music for Organ, Winds, Brass, & Percussion," [Frederick Fennel, Dallas Wind
Symphony, Reference Recordings, RR-58CD.] Now let's see how well this little
fella stands up against the massive Lay Family Concert Organ, with Paul Riedo
at the keyboard! Featured on this mighty CD's opening track was composer Sigfried
Karg-Elert's soul stirring, "Praise the Lord." And that's exactly what Francis and Gordana did when they heard it played. The deep, powerful bass coming from
the 94dB sensitive, floor standing Ta'us shook their neighbors into frightened
submission. This 80 watt/channel, 300 hundred smacker, AMP Two had pulled out
all the big Lay's stops. Aye-aye-aye! This can't be happening!

OK, tough
guy, time to trot out the man-eating, love-hungry Juanita Hall, a too often
overlooked,
great blues singer. Unfortunately pigeonholed as the character "Bloody Mary"
from the musical "South Pacific," Juanita could belt it out with the best of
them, as evidenced by the great DCC reissue of a 1957 recording, "Juanita Hall
Sings the Blues" [DCC DJZ-623, with the Claude Hopkins All Stars]. Well, it
wasn't time to sing the blues about the AMP Two just yet, but it did show that
on female vocals it could get a touch transistor strident. Interestingly though,
instrumental upper octave energy wasn't seared in semiconductor grease; for
example, delicate, brush strokes against a high hat came through exceptionally
well. Still, if you are looking for palpable presence and tube liquidity, well,
the AMP Two isn't completely in the miracle worker category. (Sorry. You'll
have to spring for that big $10,000 SE job after all.)

Any other AMP
Two failings? Well, the soundstage was not a multidimensional, multi-layered
affair. And the soundstage would go back just so far, and then stop short. But
hey, kids, we are talking about a $299 device here, not some kilobuck killer
amp. Regardless, the failings of the AMP Two are surprisingly few, and its virtues
surpassingly many. Apparently, this little guy was never told he was just a
high end runt. What this amp may lose around the high end edges, it more than
makes up for with an oversupply of snap your fingers, rhythmic musicality that
just wont quit. Like the look down your nose character in a Disney animated
movie, the AMP Two wins your heart over with its gutsy, never say die spirit.

And if it
does win you over after an audition--which is quite likely--bear in mind
that the
AMP Two has two line level controls, so you can easily adjust volume, and also
set channel balance. Moreover, the AMP Two has a second line level input,
so
you can hook up two devices (but there is no input source selector.) So, if
your CD player can put out the .8V input voltage required to drive the AMP
Two
to its full rated power, you can do without a budget eating preamp. Obviously,
not needing a preamp means you can spend more money on better speakers. Or
maybe
buy two pairs, as the AMP Two sports two sets of speaker connections. An A/B
switch located on the unit's front does speaker selection duties. Another
panel
switch activates a peak limiter which uses special circuitry in the amp designed
to minimize possible damage or distortion to speakers at high output levels.
(This unit's solid 80 watts are probably more than most $99 bargain basement
speakers are used to contending with.) There is also a switch that causes
the
sensitivity of the illuminated left and right channel power meters to increase
by a factor of ten, useful for when monitoring the output at lower volume
levels.
Topping off the front's panel's panoply of useful doodads is a 1/4" stereo
headphone jack.

On the unit's
back, a switch lets you easily bridge the AMP Two, and turn it into a 200
watt
monoblock. Also at the rear, a second stereo set of line out/thru jacks allows
you to daisy chain together multiple amplifiers. Finally, the unit's power
switch
has both manual and auto on/off modes. If you choose the "auto" setting, the
AMP Two will automatically turn on and off, depending on whether or not it
senses
an input signal. Taken all together, the AMP Two offers great sonics, and control
flexibility to boot.

Sure, sure, despite
its can-you-believe-all-this-for-only-300-bucks features, the AMP Two is not
going to give Krell or Audio Note any sleepless nights. However, it's another
bedtime story entirely for vendors of $1,000 to $1,500 integrated amps. For
them, the overachiever AMP Two could well turn out to be a marketing nightmare.
But for all you folks looking for a great budget amp, the AMP Two is a dream
come true.